The top of the radio buying charts looks a little different this week. Whereas auto brands have dominated for several weeks, it was a QSR that led buying in Toronto.
According to the Media Monitors charts for the week ending March 8, Tim Hortons purchased 1,201 radio spots, more-than-doubling its buy from the previous week. In second place was Staples, which also made a big purchase increase to 888 spots. Rounding out the city’s top five were Lotto Max, Speedy Glass and OLG.
The amp-up in radio advertising for Tim Hortons comes as the brand has started to promote its annual Roll Up The Rim promotion. However, earlier this week, the company announced that there would be a number of changes to the contest due to concerns around COVID-19; the iconic rollable cups will be pulled in order to minimize potential cross-contamination from the prize tabs, while the digital component will be amped up. However, that doesn’t mean there will be a pause on paid media – particularly in radio.
In an interview with MiC sister publication strategy, Restaurant Brands International chief corporate officer Duncan Fulton said pulling and replacing assets is happening most rapidly on radio and digital. “The marketing team has been doing a great job to pull a lot of assets and replace them with new assets. It’s certainly more quick to get on radio and digital than it is to traffic new television. So we’ve been leaning into radio and digital to get that message out,” he told strategy C-suite editor Justin Dallaire.
Tims’ big buy helped propel the fast casual/QSR buying category to the top of the charts; combined, advertisers in the category purchased 2,891 spots. Tims’ buy represented 42% of the category. Lotteries came in second, with 2,357 spots.
Tims had a similar trajectory in the Montreal market; after purchasing 228 spots last week it upped the ante to 441 spots this week, topping the city and dethroning previous top finisher CTV (which lowered its previous buy only slightly to 413 spots, down from 484). Other top buyers in Montreal included Fido Solutions, Dormez-vous and Association des chirugiens dentistes du Québec.
Nevertheless, the television and cable TV category remained the top-buying category for the week, with a slight increase in spots to 674 (from 652).
